The second round of the Porter Hire International Sprint Car Series rocked Palmerston North’s Robertson Holden International Speedway on Tuesday, December 6.
The event saw four top American drivers take on the top local talent in a no-holds-barred battle for bragging rights.
The Americans — Craig Dollansky, Brad Loyet, Jonathan Allard and the son of the great Steve Kinser, Kraig — were crowd favourites and who people had come to see.
Unfortunately for Jonathan Allard, his chances were ended before they really started after a freak accident with the water cart. The team didn’t want to rush and do a temporary fix to the car, so opted out in favour of getting the car ready for the next meeting, which is set to take place at Western Springs on December 10.
The 25-lap feature was set to be exciting with so many top cars in the field, and it didn’t disappoint. A four-car pile-up in the early stages of the race, involving Daniel Rogers, Rodney Wood, Paul Donovan, and Kendall Savage, saw Donovan and Savage out of the running.
At the restart Jamie McDonald was in the lead with Kraig Kinser in second and Michael Pickens in third — this remained the order for several laps until Pickens managed to pass both Kinsler and McDonald to take the lead.
2NZ Dean Brindle attempted a pass on Kinsler on turn three, but they tangled and Kinser ended up rolling, both cars leaving the field.
Pickens ended up taking the win with McDonald second and 3NZ Jamie Larson in third.
The fastest lap of the day went to Jamie McDonald with an impressive 13.4881 second time.
Special mention must go to Daniel Eggleton who lent his engine to American Brad Loyet after his engine developed problems at Western Springs during the previous round of the series.
